1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sales system in a communication network for permitting a mediator in the communication network to mediate between a purchaser and a seller in the trading of commodities.
1. Description of the Related Art
The Internet and other communication networks for communication with a personal computer have recently been rapidly pervading corporate plants as well as general homes, finding wide applications not only as means for receiving and transmitting various types of information but also in the selection, ordering, and sales of various commodities.
In such a communication network, when a desired commodity is to be purchased through a sales system therein, the purchaser confirms the information such as performance, price, etc. of the desired commodity on his computer screen and then inputs and registers their information including address, name, paying method, etc. This information is then transmitted over the communication network to the host computer of the seller, in response to which the commodity is delivered to the address of the purchaser, while the cost is paid by the predetermined method such as credit card or account transfer.
Also, as for an over-the-network sales of a personal computer, for example, there is a so-called auction type sales system or a reverse-auction type sales system available in addition to the communication sales system with a fixed sales price specified by the seller previously discussed. In the auction type sales system, a seller or a mediator sets an initial bid price of a commodity. Purchasers then submit bids on the commodity over the network, not less than the initial bid price. At the end of a predetermined time period, the highest bidder wins the right to purchase the commodity. In the reverse-auction type sales system, a purchaser or a mediator sets an initial bid price of a commodity. Sellers then submit bids on the commodity over the network not more than the initial bid price. At the end of a predetermined time period, the lowest bidder wins the right to sell the commodity.
In the reverse-auction type sales system, in a case where the commodity is a personal computer, for example, typically the number of articles to be sold at a time is small, so that the purchasers may have an advantage where they can purchase a commodity for a price lower than an over-the-counter price or a sales price, while the sellers may have an advantage where they can dispose of lesser-quality inventories in a wider sales market.
In the above-mentioned auction type sales system, however, since the number of articles to be sold is small, the profit of the sellers is relatively low. Also, a seller who would like to sell a large number of the same commodity collectively can often get a satisfactory total profit even if the unit price of the commodity is set considerably lower than a unit cost for a small volume sales. Therefore purchasers may get the commodity at a lesser than usual sales price, thereby benefiting all those involved in the auction.